Lantern (band)
Lantern '''(formerly '''Lanterns) is an American alternative rock/pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. The band is best known for their anthemic songs, power ballads, instrumentals, jam sessions, unplugged performances, cover versions of popular songs and other stuff. Biography 1994-1997: Origins After leaving Seattle, Washington to Los Angeles, California due to the death of Kurt Cobain in April 1994, Martin Scottdale decided to form a band. While working at a record store, his friend Dana Louise Clarke overheard his idea and joined his then-unnamed band as the bassist. Scottdale and Clarke began working on demos but soon after that they were lacking a drummer and a keyboardist. Later jazz drummer Robert Lewis joined the band. Then after that, Lewis recommended Scottdale his cousin Andrea Smith as the keyboardist for the band. Impressed with her skills, Scottdale officially welcomed Smith to the band. Later, Andrew Wallace became the fifth and final member to join the band on October 1994, officially finalising the line-up. The band began writing songs and decided to name the band Lanterns, named after Scottdale's favourite superhero, the Green Lantern. Lanterns performed their first gigs in local social clubs and on May 1995, they began demoing songs to have record label potential. After demoing 4 albums worth of songs, they began to have a huge fanbase. The demos were later sent to record labels. After recieving record deals from the big six record companies, they eventually signed to Universal label Apparel on June 10, 1996. Three months later, the band began demoing for their debut album. 1997-2000: Thrilled After demoing, the band officially recorded their debut album on January 1997 and completed it on July of the same year, with the debut single "Disco's Gonna Die" released on the following month. The debut album Thrilled ''was released on September 12, 1997 to mostly positive reviews. During promotion, bassist Clarke fainted unconscious while rehearsing for a concert. She was told to rest by doctors leaving the concert tour postponed until 1999. 2001-2003: ''Clickshot and line-up changes 2004-2005: It's About Time 2006-2007: Here It Goes After the success of It's About Time, the band began recording their fourth album on February 2006. Due to the death of Scottdale's uncle, the band began to change their sound and became more darker than the previous album. The album completed recording on July 12, 2006 and the lead single "Four-By-Two-By-Seven" was released as a promotional single on the same day, with a full release the next month. Also the title of the album was confirmed as Here It Goes ''on August 2, 2006. ''Here It Goes ''was released on October 20, 2006 to critical and commercial acclaim. The band did a mini-tour like their previous tour for ''It's About Time. On November 12, 2006, the band released their cover of the Malice Mizer song "Beast of Blood", which unlike the original version, which featured Japanese lyrics, it featured English lyrics. After releasing "Here It Goes" on June 2007, Clarke said to The Music Channel that the band would be releasing a greatest hits album on December 2007. 2007-2012: A Decade of Hits ''and hiatus While compiling the singles for ''A Decade of Hits: 1997-2007, Scottdale feuded with Hunter over the recording of "I Care Bout You", which was more R&B-influenced, which Hunter said it was "too Lionel Richie". However Scottdale said to Hunter that the song would be a hit if it was added to the greatest hits album. Eventually, Hunter told Scottdale that he would leave the band the following year. The band did a two-month promotional tour after the release of the single "Done With This". After finishing A Decade of Hits ''promotional tour in July 2008, Taylor, Hunter and Scott departed the band. Taylor said that her departure was "mutual", alongside with Scott. Scottdale said about Hunter after his departure on The Music Channel interview, that Hunter nearly ended Lantern and said that he would not talk to Hunter if he had another major row with him. Scottdale remain close friends with Hunter. Without a rhythm guitarist, a drummer or a keyboardist, Scottdale put Lantern on hiatus and decided to form a duo with bassist Clarke under the name The Advents in August. However The Advents did not become successful as Lantern as their debut album ''Lose Control ''flopped. After the second album ''Ironically ''was released on March 2010, The Advents split up four months later and Scottdale began working on his solo career. The second album recieved positive reviews from music critics. Scottdale said on a July 21, 2013 with The Music Channel that he was unsatisified with the released version of the albums, saying that the albums were not completely mixed. He however said that he doesn't disown the albums, saying that the songs are "cool and smooth". Taylor, Hunter and Scott formed an electronic rock trio named Encounter. In 2011, when asked about a possibility of a Lantern reunion, Scottdale said: "It will happen eventually, but I highly doubt that the Mark II will be reforming." 2012-present: Return from hiatus and fifth studio album On June 6, 2012, Scottdale officially confirmed rumours that Lantern would reunite on a TV special airing on The Music Channel. Six days later, Scottdale, Clarke, Wallace, Lewis and Smith appeared in a press conference. The band began releasing a two-part extended play called ''Back Again, which consisted of acoustic versions of all ten singles from their debut album Thrilled. Originally concieved as an acoustic album, it was split into 2 5-song EPs, with the first part coming out on March 2013 and the second coming out on June 2013. It recieved positive reviews. Musical style and influences Lantern's main genres are alternative rock and pop rock. However, they have been labeled as bossa nova, indie rock, new wave, glam rock, glam metal, soft rock, hard rock, contemporary R&B, acid jazz, electronica, industrial rock, post-grunge, grunge, synthpop, gothic rock, emo, punk revival, post-punk, westernised version of visual kei and Avatar rock. The band has cited Garbage, No Doubt, Green Day, The Limits, Gearshift, Vox, Complex, Expressway, Shadow Clock, U2, R.E.M., Foreigner, Malice Mizer, X Japan, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, The Smiths, R. Kelly, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beatles, The Who, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Daniela Mercury, George Michael and Faith No More as influences. Discography Albums *''Thrilled (1997) *''Clickshot ''(2001) *''It's About Time ''(2004) *''Here It Goes ''(2006) *''TBA ''(2014) Compilation albums *''Thrilled Remixed ''(1998) *''Clickshot Remixed ''(2002) *''The Blank Tape ''(2003, mixtape leading to ''It's About Time) *''It's About Time Remixed (2005) *''Here It Goes Remixed ''(2007) *''A Decade of Music: 1997-2007 ''(2007) *''Rarities ''(2008) *''The Music Still Continues: The Demo Tape Volume 1 ''(2009, 1995 demo) *''The Music Still Continues: The Demo Tape Volume 2 ''(2010, 1995 demo) *''The Music Still Continues: The Demo Tape Volume 3 ''(2011, 1996 demo) *''The Music Still Continues: The Demo Tape Volume 4 ''(2012, 1996 demo) Extended plays *''Millennium Part One ''(1999, four outtakes (not B-sides) from ''Thrilled) *''Millennium Part Two (2000, four outtakes (not B-sides) from ''Thrilled) *''Back Again Part One (2013) *''Back Again Part Two ''(2013) Singles From ''Lantern #"Disco's Gonna Die" (August 1997) #*Genre: Pop rock, disco #"Welcome to the Lantern Show" (November 1997) #*Genre: Pop rock, industrial rock, new wave #"Keep It Together" (January 1998) #*Genre: Alternative rock, emo, pop rock #"Thrilled" (March 1998) #*Genre: Pop rock, glam rock, disco #"Rainbows and Clowns" (September 1998) #*Genre: Pop rock, grunge, new wave #"All You Wanna Sleep" (February 1999) #*Genre: Gothic rock, pop rock, visual kei #"Getting It Over" (April 1999) #*Genre: Comtemporary R&B, alternative rock, pop #"Speed Dial Seven" (October 1999) #*Genre: Glam metal, glam rock, hard rock #"I'm Gonna Live" (March 2000) #*Genre: Acid jazz, bossa nova #"Confusions" (May 2000) #*Genre: Electronica, synthpop From Clickshot #"Clickshot" (June 2001) #*Genre: Glam rock, gothic rock #"Fever" (August 2001) #*Genre: Emo pop, alternative rock #"Disaster in Love" (November 2001) #*Genre: Pop rock, pop punk #"Mouth" (March 2002) #*Genre: Art rock, electronica #"Talking Boots" (June 2002) #*Genre: Folk rock, alternative rock #"Walking Inside" (December 2002) #*Genre: Glam rock, glam metal #"Senses" (March 2003) #*Genre: Hard rock, synthpop #"Out of Town" (July 2003) #*Genre: Soft rock From It's About Time '' #"It's About Time" (May 2004) #*Genre: Glam metal, hard rock #"Time to Kill" (July 2004) #*Genre: Hard rock #"Thunder" (October 2004) #*Genre: Punk revival, ska punk #"Innerspace" (February 2005) #*Genre: Industrial rock, glam rock #"Lovers Beyond" (June 2005) #*Genre: Experimental rock, trip hop #"Liars Lied" (October 2005) #*Genre: Contemporary R&B, post-punk From ''Here It Goes #"Four-By-Two-By-Seven" (August 2006) #*Genre: Gothic rock, post-grunge, industrial rock #"Beast of Blood" (November 2006) #*Genre: Visual kei, pop rock, pop punk #"Ice Cold Sober" (March 2007) #*Genre: Emo, pop rock, gothic rock #"Here It Goes" (June 2007) #*Genre: Alternative rock, soft rock, acoustic rock From A Decade of Music: 1997-2007 #"I Care Bout You" (November 2007) #*Genre: Contemporary R&B, pop #"Done With This" (May 2008) #*Genre: New wave, pop rock From Untitled fifth album #"Return of the Shadows" (December 2012) #*Genre: Punk revival #"Bridge over Troubled Water" (July 2013) #*Genre: Pop rock Music videos The band is also known for their music videos. Most of their music videos are conceptual, as said by Scottdale in the commentary for the DVD version of A Decade of Music: 1997-2007. The music video of "Beast of Blood" is a homage to one of their influences, Malice Mizer, when the band dressed up as the classic line-up: Scottdale as Gackt, Clarke as Yu~ki, Taylor as Kozi, Hunter as Kami and Scott as Mana. Despite the inaccurancy of the visual kei band's line-up for the video due to Gackt's departure and Kami's death in 1999, the video was praised by critics and fans. Members *Martin Scottdale - vocals, lead guitar (1994-present) *Dana Louise Clarke - bass, backing vocals (1994-present) *Andrew Wallace - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1994-2003, 2012-present) *Robert Lewis - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1994-2003, 2012-present) *Andrea Smith - keyboards, backing vocals (1994-2003, 2012-present) Former members *Jack Taylor - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2003-2008) *Dylan Hunter - drums, percussion, backing vocals (2003-2008) *Tamara Scott - keyboards, backing vocals (2003-2008)